Photo Credit: Press
Last week, West Yorkshire’s LOVE RARELY released their debut EP ‘Lonely People’. The band has recently performed with UK heavyweights Loathe, Static Dress and Polar, and with festival appearances lined-up for 2024, the band are going all out this year. We sat down with guitarist Dan Dewsnap to chat about the EP, the birth of the band and what is still to come.
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How did the formation of Love Rarely come about?
Dan: Mine and Courtney’s old band split up nearly 10 years ago, and Lew’s previous band broke up around five years ago. Courtney just wouldn’t stop making music; she was constantly getting us to write music with her, there was even a phase where she was doing techno music. Me and Lew have always spoke about playing in a band together for years, as we both have similar but contrasting styles. As time went on, me and Lew grew closer, and you need that personal connection with each other when writing because you’re opening yourself up to someone with your ideas, and being vulnerable. The first song we wrote was ‘My Body’, and it went in a complete different direction to what we were doing before. This is the first time we have both played in a band with a different guitarist where it has worked.
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What is the writing process like in the band?
Dan: Me and Lew write separately, and then come together when we have a finished product of our own. Me and Courtney will write parts together too, and work out exactly where lyrics need to go and make it work. Once we have the core basis of the song finished, we then get Dan and Harry in to complete it.
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Does living with Courtney benefit the writing and ideas more?
Dan: It’s good because I am able to get the bare bones of a song finished before she comes in, so it is ready to go as soon as she is available.
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What is the message behind the EP title ‘Lonely People’?
Dan: It comes from how isolating you feel when you are in the weeds of writing something. You completely cut yourself off from everything around you, and Love Rarely is all I ever thought about. Now that we are getting some cool shows and festivals lined up, I am able to open up to more thoughts and feelings now the EP is out.
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What has the reception been like on the release?
Dan: Things are done differently now compared to our last band. Before it was YouTube, where you could judge it off comments and views, whereas now, you don’t really know how it’s doing, you just get back statistics from streaming sites. It has been the most well received in that sense than anything we have ever put out before, so that is a positive. Now, we will go off comments and interactions across social media to get more of an idea of peoples personal opinions.
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The EP has also been released on CD and cassette, what was the reason to release a physical edition for your first release?
Dan: It is due to us being a little bit older really; having that physical body of music in your possession is quite special. So it is more for us in that sense. Plus, it still holds up to this day, what if a streaming platform goes down? Your music has essentially gone.
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The EP’s outro ‘P.A.F’ is a lot heavier compared to the other five tracks, what was the reason behind that?
Dan: Every song that we wrote had taken about two months to get it to a place we were happy with it, whereas ‘P.A.F’ literally took a few hours. We wanted to have all the mathy and technical stuff to be the core of the EP, and then have something to finish it with a lot more energy and it be different.
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Have you noticed progression in your craft over the years?
Dan: Harry and Dan have got technically better over time. Me and Lewis I would say yes in the song writing aspect of it, theres more of a balance to it with Love Rarely.
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Love Rarely have slots at this year’s Burn It Down Festival and Make A Scene Summerjam, alongside some shows too. How excited are you to be back performing on stage again?
Dan: I am not the best gigger. I get so nervous. I have to visualise a cold beer is the end goal at the end of the set to keep me at ease. When we supported Loathe, after not gigging for nearly eight years, it was like a version of imposter syndrome in a way. I am buzzing to be back playing live again, but still trying to get used to it, and get used to the nerves.
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What does the rest of 2024 look like for the band?
Dan: We put so much time and energy into the EP, now it is out there, we can think about releasing a few singles for the rest of the year. It is a little bit less stressful, as long as you are confident in that one song, you can release it. Hopefully that can result in getting some good stuff lined up for 2025.
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What items makes up your perfect rider?
Dan: I don’t eat or drink before playing a show. So for afterwards, it would be a slice of pizza and a cold beer to come back to. That would be me done.
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LOVE RARELY’s debut EP ‘Lonely People’ is out now via Best Life Records.
The EP is available across digital streaming platforms, with physical copies available to order now.
The bands current upcoming dates are as follows:
17th May – Leeds, Hyde Park Book Club (supporting Mouth Culture)
20th July – Make A Scene Summer Jam 2 @ Middlesbrough, Play Brew Co
30th/31st August – Burn It Down Festival @ Torquay (Various Venues – date and venue TBA)
Follow LOVE RARELY on socials via the links below.
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